The airfreight company, ACE, acquires the Logistics Division of its competitor, ConmelGruppen, and thus becomes a leading operator in both air- and seafreight. Following the acquisition, the ACE Group is expected to have sales of approxi-mately SEK 1,100M and just under 300 employees.

ACE, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ratos, is already a leading airfreight operator in Sweden. The objective is to become a leading air- and sea forwarding company in the Nordic countries.

Value-creating acquisitionTo supplement ACE's already strong airfreight operations with the sea- and airfreight divisions of ConmelGruppen is well in line with ACE's strategy to establish itself as a leading operator in both air- and seafreight in the Nordic countries. The liner agencies are not included in the acquisition.

"By supplementing our operations with seafreight we are able to take increased logistics responsibility for our customers' flows. This gives us a significant competitive advantage on the markets in which we have elected to operate," says Peter Larsen, President of ACE.

Synergy effectsThe acquisition of the Logistics Division of ConmelGruppen offers opportunities for supplementing ACE's current operations from a strategic viewpoint. Some synergy effects are expected to arise, among other things with regard to future IT investments.

In 1999, the acquired units reported sales of approximately SEK 650M and result after financial income and expenses of around SEK 10M. ACE's sales in 1999 amounted to approximately SEK 500M, whereas the result, partly as a consequence of the crisis in Asia, was SEK -4M. The acquisition is expected to affect the result of the ACE Group positively during 2000.

"With today's deal I see excellent opportunities for increasing the value of Ratos' investment," says Thomas Mossberg, Executive Vice President of Ratos and responsible for the ACE investment.